“Bring Chicago Home” advocates faced a hurdle in their efforts to increase the real estate transfer tax as a dedicated revenue stream to fight homelessness in the city, a long standing problem further exacerbated by the increase of over 182,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela.
On Friday Cook County Circuit Judge Kathleen Burke invalidated the ballot referendum that was to appear on the March 19th Chicago primary ballot, in a ruling pending from a lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Elections that she labeled vague and unconstitutional, and was welcome news to those opposed to the proposal, namely the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, the Chicago Apartment Association.
The proposed ordinance had long faced opposition by these groups and others and the ruling now removed the question from the voters, but since the ballots have already been printed, any votes will not be counted.
While an appeal is expected by supporters, the dilemma of how to begin to solve a long standing problem hangs in the balance with 682,000 unhoused people, not counting the migrants, who are living on the streets, sheltering on CTA buses and El trains, and doubled up with others and family members or other places not designed for human habitation.
The $100 million dollars in expected revenue leaves supporters including Mayor Brandon Johnson, in a bind to solve the social dilemma.
As CBS News Chicago reported, “Specifically, the Bring Chicago Home proposal would create a tiered system for the real estate transfer tax for property sales in Chicago:
The transfer tax for properties valued at less than $1 million would drop from 0.75% to 0.60%
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Properties sold for between $1 million and $1.5 million would pay a 2% transfer tax, nearly triple the current rate
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Properties sold for $1.5 million or more would pay a 3% transfer tax, four times the current rate.
Meanwhile those bringing the suit are elated, and according to THe Chicago Tribune: “In a statement Friday, BOMA Chicago Executive Director Farzin Parang said the group was “gratified” by the ruling, which “underscores the necessity of presenting policy questions to the public with fairness, detail, and transparency.”
“This referendum would be a backdoor property tax on all Chicagoans, and it is important that our elected officials not mislead voters otherwise,” Parang said.
Earlier he had also the The Chicago Sun-TImes, ““The way that they worded this question was just sort of politics and it was vague and it was trying to manipulate people into thinking that they were getting a tax cut when this is, functionally, a property tax increase on everybody," and, "We’re just gratified that the judge agreed with us.”
In a revealing statement, Parang also “said that, had the binding referendum remained on the ballot, Johnson and his allies would likely have won.”
The Times also gave a reality check on local politics when they opined, “That’s because the March 19 turnout is expected to be low, and the person the mayor assigned to quarterback the campaign — Emma Tai, former executive director of United Working Families, a group affiliated with the Chicago Teachers Union — marshaled field operations for Johnson’s winning mayoral campaign.”
Framed in terms of racial disparity the mayor said in November, in a statement to the Tribune, “"We know that homelessness is up since 2019, and that Black Chicagoans account for 69% of our city's unhoused population, and one in four Black students in the Chicago Public Schools, unfortunately, will experience homelessness at least once during their lives. Bring Chicago Home is an important measure that I believe will help rectify this wrong,"and furthermore, "My administration will continue our mission to support Chicago's unhoused, and I will remain resolute in my belief that housing is truly a human right."
In a long racially segregated city, race cuts deeply, but others have fought back from some of the same communities affected, and one in opposition was the Southland Black Chamber of Commerce, and according to the Tribune:
"I think they just assumed that since the $1 million price tag was put on there, this is a rich person's tax to help poor people,'' said Cornell Darden Jr., chairman of the Southland Black Chamber. "But we didn't see it that way."
He said, as others have noted, “ if property owners paid the increase, they would simply pass it on to renters.”
"It can help increase the problem of homelessness by raising rental prices," said Darden.”
It was evident that the opposition has planned, organized and funded a formidable opposition, and the Tribune also reported that. “The group’s website, “Protect Chicago Homes,” states that the decrease for lower-value sales is a distraction from the hike borne by other property owners. “With no plan for how to spend this New Property Tax, they’ll be coming after your house next” to adequately fund affordable housing developments.”
Supporters state that while there would be a dedicated revenue stream, the monies would be governed by an advisory board.
In a statement after Burke’s ruling, Baker called for the city to “sit down together to develop a real plan for better homelessness prevention and to further housing stability.”
Until then, he said, the group would continue its campaign to inform voters “how tax burdened Chicagoans are and the need for policy solutions that do not rely on real estate taxes.”
Critics charge that those opposed had years, (dating from the Lightfoot administration, when the plan was first broached and later abandoned, by the mayor, who then developed an alternative tiered tax cut plan of hers, but no revenues to help the homeless) to develop an alternative plan for discussion, but this was never done.
Hovering in the background, like a many headed hydra, there are reports of “Other opposition groups . . . . One is Keep Chicago Affordable, which appears to be an extension of the 501(c)(4) nonprofit group Chicago Forward. Both are led by Resolute Public Affairs. It has not yet raised or spent any money.”
A noted leading advocate is Ald. Maria Hadden of the 49th Ward told local media:
"These are the same companies raising your rents and deconverting your condos, displacing you and your family from our neighborhoods," she wrote in a statement. "Chicago voters should be furious."
While Hadden has led a group of 19 like minded alders, it is important to note that the effort has been led by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, but also the aforementioned SEIU Healthcare, United Working Families, Communities United, ONE Northside and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. But, despite their collective effort they have had to face the powerful, and wealthy Chicago real estate owners, and, of course, a larger budget to fight with, plus political fire power, as Friday’s ruling has shown.
On March 6th an appellate court ruled that the referendum could stay on the ballot, overturning the appeal by the Building Owners and Manager's Association, with weeks to spare before the March 19 primary. In essence, Presiding Judge Raymond Mitchell said that his court's decision was to not interfere in the legislative process, stating specifically that "Courts do not, and cannot, interfere with the legislative process." BOMA has not made a decision as of this writing whether or not to appeal to the Illinois State Supreme Court. DG
10 March 2024 9:34 CDST
